


Just Ain't Living

by skeleteen



Series: inspired by shuffle [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Angst, Animal Instincts, Cancer, Feral Behavior, Fluff and Angst, Full Shift Werewolves, Illnesses, M/M, Mates, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, Terminal Illnesses, True Mates, Werewolf Derek, Werewolf Mates, Werewolf Stiles Stilinski, he lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 07:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8569594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeleteen/pseuds/skeleteen
Summary: Derek always knew he'd find his mate, he just didn't expect him to be half dead.Inspired by "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance.





	

Derek has to restrain himself from physically flinching at the invasion of death under his nostrils. He hasn’t been to Beacon Hills in a few months, sure, but that’s average with University. He wasn’t prepared for the smell at  _ home _ . He surveys the board game café on high alert, but he wasn't expecting the scent to be radiating off a young, very  _ alive _ man in the corner, playing  _ Jenga  _ with a brunette girl.

“Stiles! Don't talk like that.” He hears the girl snap, prompting a frown from Derek and an eye-roll from the rotting boy. 

He doesn't know why he keeps breathing in the scent, but his focus doesn't falter as he gravitates towards the cash register.

“I  _ will  _ miss this shit. It isn't morbid to say that.” He scoffs. “I’m as good as dead, Kira, let me reflect a little.”

_ No, _ Derek’s mind screams.  _ No, no, no! _

“Cancer is scary.” She mumbles.

The soft smile he replies with is equal parts terrifying and sad to witness. “I know.”

Derek is out the door before he even makes it to the front of the line, the bell chime reminding him of his cowardice.

He heads straight to where his heart is leading him, a painful hobble of duty.

 

-

 

“Mom,” His voice breaks when he gets the door to his pack home open. 

Before he can elaborate, she's in front of him, wrapping her hands around his head and staring at him like his expression will tell his secrets.

“You smell soggy.” She furrows thick, dark eyebrows that reflect his own. “Like guilt and lingering death. What have you done?”

“Nothing.” He chokes out. “He's dying. I found him and he's  _ dying _ . I didn’t do anything.”

“Oh, honey.” Her arms engulf his body, radiating comfort and sympathy. “Does he know he’s…?”

“He's  _ accepted  _ it.” He blinks back quick tears. “He's ready to go, and we haven't even met. He has no idea.”

“What's his name?” She pulls back gently, wiping a strangling tear off her son's cheek.

“Stiles.”

If the intake of breath was meant to be subtle, his Alpha failed.

“I have a call to make.” She says softly. “Get some rest. Take a nap in your full-shift for a few hours, it'll calm your nerves.”

Despite his curiosity, her words were an order, and he finds himself desiring to burrow until the cotton feels like a cloud.

 

-

 

When he wakes up, it smells like death and  _ mate _ .

He trots down the stairs in wolf form. In his living room, he finds Stiles, sitting with the Sheriff beside him and Talia across.

Stiles Stilinski. Sheriff Stilinski.

Talia takes notice of him and frowns.

“Derek.” She scolds, addressing him as his mother, not his Alpha. “Shift. Other room.”

He whines in refusal, curling up at the bottom of the boy’s feet and resting his head on the floor. He's close. It's comforting, as if the boy will slip away if he loses sight of him.

He feels a nimble hand gently grazing his fur and his heart clenches with pained affection.

“I understand the consequences, Mrs. Hale, but the hardest part of this is the people I’m leaving behind.” He spares a glance to his father. Nobody misses the tightening grip on Derek’s coat. “I’d rather die by trying than by failing.”

“Cancer doesn't make you a failure.” The Sheriff sighs. “You're a fighter.”

“I’m losing that fight.” He pauses to take in a shaky breath. “I’ve accepted the fact that I wouldn't live past twenty-one. I would never be able to sing that stupid Taylor Swift song, graduate University. get married…” He trails off. “Chemo fucked me over, alright? It wasn’t living. It was barely surviving. I was nauseous, cramping, aching, and in and out of hospital care for  _ a year. _ I was ready to give up long before the medication did. I have my funeral planned, Dad.”

“You want this?” He asks seriously.

Derek is very still.

“I do, yeah.”

He licks Stiles’ ankle, resulting in a gentle rub behind his ear.

Talia nods. “Tomorrow it is, then. We’ll set you both up here for the night.”

 

-

 

Talia and the Sheriff left the room an hour prior to the current situation, in which Stiles sprawled out across a Hale couch with a canine Derek laying draped over his legs.

“Stiles?” Cora, Derek's younger sister, enters the room hesitantly. “Why are you…?”

“Chilling with your brother while he's a wolf?” He snorts. “Derek’s just not into the whole terminally ill kid look, it seems. We’re going to try and change me.”

“You're really,” She pauses to gasp in excitement, “You're, like, my brother-in-law now! You're pack! Oh my god!”

“Cora.” He whines. “Trying to rest.”

“Stiles, we were in  _ kindergarten _ together. Do you think I didn't want you to be turned? I did, but unless you had a definitive connection to the pack, the whole process would have outlasted your lifespan.” She sighs, gesturing to the two boys (boy and wolf), “This is perfect. I’m happy for you.”

Derek yips, pleased at the acceptance of his mate from a pack member. 

Stiles smiles lightly and wiggles further into the couch.

 

-

 

Derek is in human form and he can hear how his mate is affected by it. The heart rate and perspiration level rose, along with a bit of restlessness.

He’s  _ flustered _ .

Derek loves it, sitting close to him on the same couch they napped on the day before and resting his hand over the boy’s knee.

“So, if it doesn't take, we just say my expiry date came a few weeks early?”

“We’ll present a case of an alternate illness attacking your already-weak immune system, like pneumonia.” Talia replies clearly. “You're going to pass out from the bite either way, so it will be more painful if you wake up turning than if you die in your sleep.”

Derek frowns at the last sentence and Stiles lays his hand over his, intertwining their fingers. The intention is clear:  _ he stays with me. _

Talia nods. “Ready?”

He stands slowly, relying on Derek’s arm around his waist to keep his frail legs from collapsing. “Ready.”

Her teeth elongate and find a spot between his neck and shoulder, biting down. 

He gasps at the pain and pressure, his fingers clutching Derek’s arm with the most strength he's had in months.

She releases and he slumps against Derek, still awake but rapidly fading. Lips on his forehead feel distant and so, so right.

“Thank you.” He murmurs, before allowing Derek to scoop him into a bridal carry and giving up his consciousness.

 

-

 

When Stiles wakes up, it’s to his body convulsing uncontrollably.

“You’re okay.” He hears a comforting voice, followed by a hand against the back of his neck, protecting him from hitting his head. “You made it, Stiles.”

“Why,” He grunts, clenching and unclenching his muscles to try and alleviate some of the discomfort. “Why is it like this?”

“You have to let go, baby. Can you do that for me?” Derek whispers soothingly.

“I -” He swallows the denial and focuses his energy on the hand touching his skin. With one deep breath and a final twitch, he relaxes all of his muscles.

And it  _ erupts _ .

Through the blinding pain, he can feel Derek at his side. Physically or spiritually, he has no idea.

 

-

 

“You smell so good.” He mumbles, shoving his nose into the crook under Derek’s chin and breathing deeply. “Woods - dry wood, like pencils or the first weeks of fall. Pines. Also -”

“I’m glad you like it.” Derek’s chest rumbles with affection.

“Can I just stay here forever?” He whines.

Cora enters the room, sparing them an eye roll. “As much as Derek would love that, dinner is ready.”

“You are staying here.” Derek wrapped a hand around the back of the boy’s neck, rubbing lightly, mixing their scents. “Forever.”

Stiles’ smile is like a sunbeam.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoy my work(s), please consider buying me a coffee/supporting what I do so I can keep doing it: ko-fi.com/skeleteen


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